diff --git a/contrib/dist/linux/openmpi.spec b/contrib/dist/linux/openmpi.spec
index a8d0a95743..ab3b3f0c05 100644
--- a/contrib/dist/linux/openmpi.spec
+++ b/contrib/dist/linux/openmpi.spec
@@ -514,6 +514,10 @@ if test -z "\`echo \$MANPATH | grep %{_mandir}\`"; then
     MANPATH=%{_mandir}:\${MANPATH}
     export MANPATH
 fi
+
+# MPI_ROOT
+MPI_ROOT=%{_prefix}
+export MPI_ROOT
 EOF
 cat <<EOF > $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/%{shell_scripts_path}/%{shell_scripts_basename}.csh
 # NOTE: This is an automatically-generated file!  (generated by the
@@ -542,6 +546,9 @@ if ("1" == "\$?MANPATH") then
 else
     setenv MANPATH %{_mandir}:
 endif
+
+# MPI_ROOT
+setenv MPI_ROOT %{_prefix}
 EOF
 %endif
 # End of shell_scripts if